


Swipe Right

by Pipistrellus



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Meet-Cute, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27534061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pipistrellus/pseuds/Pipistrellus
Summary: Kagome just wanted to get through the airport without issue so that she could visit her little brother away at university. A confident hanyou makes that a bit more difficult than she imagined.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha
Comments: 8
Kudos: 52





	Swipe Right

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a tweet: "My flight was delayed 3 hours so I was doing what any human does when they're bored. Minding my own business swiping through tinder & the guy behind me goes "ouch hard no for that one?" And I turn around ONLY TO SEE THE MAN I JUST SWIPED NO ON BEHIND ME HAHAHA"
> 
> Hi welcome to my first ever fic! I wrote this back in March before the world went upside down and posted it to Tumblr originally. I'm feeling like it's time to branch out and maybe write some more, so I made a few quick edits and decided to break out of my shell and actually post here. I hope it brings you a little bit of joy and levity!

Kagome hauled her bright pink suitcase out of the back of the cab and dropped it down next to her with a thud. She readjusted her bag on her shoulders before she gave a small wave as a thank you to the cab driver as she turned and dashed into the bustling airport. 

The line for security was huge, wrapping around itself multiple times, and Kagome released a heavy sigh and silently cursed herself for giving herself only an hour before departure to even arrive. It wasn’t her fault that Buyo had hid in her apartment and she couldn’t find him to say goodbye before she left, or that she kept remembering that one last thing that she absolutely needed to pack until her suitcase was stuffed to the brim.

As she moved through the security line at a snail’s pace, she reminded herself that it was all worth it because she was going to go visit Souta. She hadn’t seen her brother since he had decided he was going to university in Hong Kong and for as much as they argued when they were kids, she really missed the brat. Plus, she had finally saved up enough and had gotten time off work to take her first real vacation. She was going to have fun, no matter what, security lines and running late be damned.

Finally, Kagome had cleared security and took a quick seat to recombobulate herself after going through all of the machines and scanners. She took a swift glimpse at her watch and had to do a double-take. Her eyes widened as she looked between her watch and her boarding pass. The flight was supposed to take off at 3 pm. It was currently 2:58 pm. She finished slipping her shoe on and tore off through the airport.

Panting, and covered with a thin sheen of sweat, Kagome arrived at her gate, ready to plead with the gate assistant to please let her on – they had to, she absolutely couldn’t afford to miss this flight. She glanced up at the too-bright LED sign that had boarding times only to see in a large, bold, red font that the flight was delayed. Not only was it delayed, but it wouldn’t be taking off for at least another three hours.

Whether it was a sigh of relief or disappointment that she released, even she couldn’t tell. Kagome hitched her bag over her shoulder and wiped her forehead before mumbling under her breath about how inconsistent airlines were. She would never describe herself as a big drinker, but boy did one sound good right about now. Thank goodness that day drinking was acceptable in airports.

Kagome weaved herself and her suitcase through the crowds walking down the terminal, passing duty free shops and restaurants until she found a small bar that didn’t look as crowded as the rest. She walked up to the bar and ordered a warm sake. After paying an exorbitant fee, she grabbed the sake off of the bar and found a small table where she hastily dropped her bag on the chair and pulled her suitcase up to the other side of her. Just as unceremoniously, she dropped herself into her seat and took a small sip. The warm liquid ran down her throat and left a pleasant burn. Unburdened by her bags and being able to sit down for a moment helped her to relax, even just a bit.

A small vibration caused Kagome to pull her phone out of her back pocket and she saw that she had a text from Souta.

_ ‘Hey Sis, I saw that your flight was running a little late – just wanted to let you know I’ll still be able to meet you at the airport when you get in.’ _

Kagome allowed herself a small smile and her heart swelled with pride at how much of a responsible young man her annoying little brother was growing into. She closed her messaging app and her eyes briefly darted to the dating app on her home screen. A light blush spread across her cheeks as she remembered her best friend, Sango, last week telling her she really ought to try online dating. Sango had reasoned that it had been years since she and Hojo had broken up and she should get back out there – there was nothing to be ashamed of. It was a compelling argument at the time, but Kagome still couldn’t bring herself to actually use the app. She shrugged her shoulders to herself and took another sip of the delicious sake, hey, she had three hours to kill now.

She tapped on the little flame icon and the app sprung open. Sango had helped her craft her profile, picking out photos of her that were tasteful, but still cute. The first guy to pop up on her screen had a photo of him holding a large fish and striking a very masculine pose with it. 

‘Which direction is yes and which is no, again?’ she quickly thought to herself before dragging her finger across the screen to the left. The man disappeared from her screen and a new one immediately popped up. This one had long black hair, striking blue eyes, and a wolfish smile. She thumbed through his pictures seeing one of him running track, and another of him with what she imagined were two of his friends. ‘What the hell’ she said to herself as she swiped her finger right only to see ‘It’s a Match!’ pop up on her screen seconds later. Kagome couldn’t explain the giddy feeling that incited in her. Maybe dating apps weren’t so bad after all – it was pretty satisfying to swipe through people and definitely an ego boost when you knew immediately that they liked you back.

Two hours and four cups of sake later, Kagome was hooked. She had honed her methodology – left on guys with no pictures of their face or only mirror selfies, right on guys posing with puppies or ‘looking for commitment’ in their bio. Nevermind the fact that she was still too nervous to message any of her matches so far. Like clockwork, another guy popped up. She swiped through the pictures, but all of them were group photos.

‘What a shame,’ she thought, ‘the guy with the silver hair and the dog ears is pretty cute, but I don’t know if this is him or not.’ Kagome slowly swiped left and was roughly jerked out of her musings when a voice from behind her spoke.

“Ouch, hard no for that one?”

Kagome whirled around, a scowl on her face and eyebrows knitted together tightly, ready to give this stranger a piece of her mind for basically eavesdropping on her when her mouth fell agape. Behind her was a man with long silver hair and golden eyes, with two furry triangles sat atop his head.

Inuyasha took in the rapid change of the girl’s expression and couldn’t help the smug smirk that crossed his face. His smirk widened to a grin as he watched a bright red blush creep across her face. He looked down at his phone in his hand and then looked back up to the girl who was now gaping at him, searching for words that just didn’t seem to want to come out.

“Kagome, right?” he said holding up his phone to show her that he had the exact same app open, her own photo smiling back at her. Casually, he lowered the phone, and almost as an afterthought swiped right before looking back up at her.

His voice sounded like smooth honey. Finally, it was like the floodgates had opened and words flowed out of Kagome’s mouth before she realized that they were coming out way too fast and not necessarily in a coherent order.

“Um – what? Sorry. There were only group photos and well I… Iguessitsnotexactlyahardno.” Flustered, and before the man could respond she shook her head and continued on, the scowl returning to her face, “And who even do you think you are looking over people’s shoulders at their own private business! Why you…you mean spirited  _ jerk _ !” She let out a deep sigh and saw it was his turn for his face to fall into wide-eyed surprise as she stood up and marched off to her gate.

\---

Kagome shuffled along the aisle, holding her suitcase in front of her and keeping her elbows in, being careful to not bump into any of the people already seated. She quickly glanced at her boarding pass again, afraid she would forget which seat she was in even though she had looked at her seat assignment just thirty seconds ago.

‘19E, it’s 19E, don’t forget 19E’ she chanted in her head as the people in front of her put their bags away and sat down. She made her way further back in the plane and saw the little numbers ‘19D, E, F’ just above her. Kagome hauled her pink suitcase over her head and into the overhead compartment, struggling slightly and wishing that she hadn’t packed all of those ‘just in case’ items that she was so sure she would need this morning.

Kagome sidled into the empty row and sat down in the middle seat, shoving her backpack under the seat in front of her. She popped her headphones in and closed her eyes, briefly allowing herself a small sigh of relief as a smile played across her lips. She hadn’t missed her flight and there would only be five and a half more hours to go before she was reunited with her little brother for a week of vacation.

A muffled sound from the aisle caused Kagome to pop one of her headphones out to hear a voice to her left say “I think I’m actually in the window seat in this row”. She opened her eyes and moved to get up to let the other passenger in when her eyes locked with golden ones.

“No way,” she whined before shutting her mouth tightly and sliding into the aisle. The man with the amber eyes grinned at her and held up his boarding pass showing seat 19F.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” he joked while settling himself into his window seat. Kagome found herself back in the middle seat, now uncomfortably close to this man she found attractive yet insufferable. She decided that ignoring him would be the best course of action. She held her phone in front of her and very obviously turned up the volume on her music and closed her eyes once more.

\---

Once again, Kagome grumbled as she woke up to a muted voice speaking to her, but this time it was a flight attendant asking her if she would like anything to drink. She smiled politely up at the woman and asked for a tea. She had almost forgotten the man next to her until she heard his deep voice ask for a coffee. She placed her hand to her temple and did her best to ignore him, but the flight attendant handed her his coffee to pass to him. She couldn’t help but meet his eyes. Godness, those eyes bored into her own in a way that made her knees weak. Before she could break away and focus on ignoring him once more, he opened his mouth to speak.

“Hey, maybe since we’re stuck next to each other, we can start things over. I’m Inuyasha,” he gently took the coffee from her hands, and when his fingers brushed against her own her heart lept. He placed his drink down on his tray table and then immediately offered her his hand in a gesture of peace.

“You already know my name,” she snarkily answered, uninterested in embarrassing herself again in front of this stranger.

“Sure do, Ka-go-me,” he drew out her name, savoring each syllable and eliciting a small, almost unnoticeable shiver down her spine.

Though he didn’t receive an answer, Inuyasha couldn’t bear to let the conversation die there. Especially not after he got the gorgeous woman next to him to finally talk to him. “So,” Inuyasha rubbed his chin as if in thought, “if it wasn’t exactly a hard no….”

“Can we just not?” she cut off his question early, pressing her hand over her face in embarrassment, unwilling to entertain this exchange.

Inuyasha held up his hands in mock surprise, “Okay, okay. How about this – just an honest conversation between two strangers. What takes you all the way to Hong Kong?”

Kagome visibly relaxed at the prospect of ignoring their short, but awkward history. She jumped into telling him about her younger brother and how proud she was of him and how excited she was to visit, her eyes shining with excitement. 

Inuyasha responded to her openness and honesty in kind, “Keh, at least you’ve got a good reason to suffer on this long flight. My brother is nowhere near as nice and has sent me over here on business to check on our offices on the mainland,” he rolled his eyes, clearly displaying what he thought about  _ that _ plan.

“It can’t be all bad,” Kagome tried to reason, her instincts to comfort and find the best of things overriding her earlier discomfort, “I’m sure you could take some extra time to go sightseeing and explore the city.”

Inuyasha wanted to tell her that it could be as bad as he was implying, but he couldn’t bring himself to crush the sparkling look in her eye and merely mumbled “Maybe you’re right.” She flashed him a bright smile that briefly dazzled him and he offered a smaller smile in return.

After that small exchange, the conversation began to flow easily between the two. They continued talking about their families and finding similarities from small things, like having what they would both describe as annoying brothers to larger, more intimate details, like how both of them had lost a parent early in life. Kagome even found herself wondering why she even swiped left on him in the first place.

Eventually, they quieted when a slight buzzing indicated that the pilot was on the intercom announcing to the passengers to prepare for landing. Kagome and Inuyasha settled into silence as they readjusted their seatbelts and tray tables. Their conversation didn’t pick back up, having had the initial spark so rudely interrupted, and both of them coming to the realization that after this flight they would likely never see each other again.

Kagome turned up her music and Inuyasha returned to halfheartedly browsing the in-flight magazine, passing over ads for tacky jewelry and solutions to male pattern baldness. He mentally kicked himself as he stole glances at the woman who had so easily charmed him, ‘Ask her out, you idiot’ he kept repeating in his head. By the time he finally worked up the courage the plane had already landed. He looked over to his left to see that she was getting up to stretch and find her way to the aisle.

‘Just do it and don’t look back, you don’t need to see his reaction' Kagome thought as she tried to psyche herself up. Before she lost her nerve and with her heart beating in her throat, Kagome handed Inuyasha a small slip of paper, “Like I said, it wasn’t a hard no after all,” she flashed him another radiant smile before getting up to retrieve her pink suitcase and then ambling her way down the aisle of the plane. 

Inuyasha looked down at the paper in his hand to see in neat handwriting her name with a heart next to it, and just below that, the digits of her phone number. “I can work with that,” he murmured to himself while finding his own way out of his seat and off of the plane, before unlocking his phone to send a quick text to the new number.

_ ‘Thanks for swiping right after all’  _

Moments later he saw the three speech bubbles that indicated typing and he unknowingly held his breath.

_ ‘ :) <3 ’  _ was her short reply.

Inuyasha smiled to himself, glad he had been a nosy jerk back in the airport.


End file.
